Inksport
by King Cloudy
Summary: (First upload, hope it goes well! T rating for language) Inksport is the story of an Octoling taken from her home, held captive in a base on the outskirts of Inkopolis. There, she must fight alongside a ragtag group of squids and their leader in a dangerous twist on Turf Wars. With traps, explosives, and no holds barred, she must work together with her enemies to win her freedom.
1. Introduction: Assault!

**_A/N:_** _Hiya, guys, gals, and slimes! You can all call me Cloudy, and this is my first time submitting a story here. Hope ya guys like it, it's something I'm really passionate about exploring and hopefully I get a lot of feedback and support. This section is probably going to be the shortest of them all, it's just a simple introduction. You can read right on through for another quick blurb from me at the end, and I'll get right to work on adding the next few sections of the story! Again, I hope you enjoy, and please do feel free to give me any constructive criticism you can offer. Thanks!_

* * *

 ** _O_** _kay,_ the girl thought to herself, breathing deeply. _I do not believe I've been followed. But I need to be cautious. I am too close to enemy territory. If I am caught, surely I'll be—_ she swatted the thought away, readying her weapon once more. _No, no time to dwell on the variables. Time now calls for action. I must move forward._

She takes a breath, and then a single step. Then promptly falls down to a kneel, wincing in pain.

"Agh!" She cries out. _Damn! I must have twisted my ankle when I turned that last corner too sharply, trying to evade those blasted squids I ran into.. I don't hear them anymore, however. I'll need to do some reconnaissance._

The girl looked around, attempting to survey her surroundings. She was chased down under a small bridge, a little paved area beneath an overpass in the neutral territory referred to as Octo Valley. She mentally scoffs at the name, as she knows it was a title conjured up by the enemy Inklings, and truly has nothing to do with the Octarian race or their civilization. The only way to access the underground network of pods that the Octarians truly called home, was through transport chutes shaped like kettles.

Looking around for a moment to make sure no one had followed her, she knelt down and surveyed her leg. Unfastening the straps on her shin guard and rolling up the leg of her pants, she saw that her ankle was badly bruised. She tried to roll it around a bit, and winced. Biting her fist to stop from screaming, she silently confirmed her suspicions as tears welled up in her eyes—she wouldn't be able to properly walk. She cursed under her breath, hoping nothing good would ever come to the Inklings that caused this injury.

Deciding to move on, she strapped her gear back on, and checked the cartridge of her modified ink-rifle—it was almost empty, but maybe enough was left for a few well-placed shots. She looked ahead, trying to plan out what path to take from here. Hurrying herself along and slinging her gun over her shoulder, she tried to rush to the other end of the overpass. She moved with as much swiftness as her bruised ankle would allow her to, and shambled over to her left, approaching the concrete wall.

Peering over the wall just a bit, she tried to survey her surroundings—and she was hit by a train.

At least, that's what it felt like.

Her vision exploded, a shower of sparks flooding her line of sight. She was lost in a whirl of pain and confusion, driving her back on her bad ankle. She tried to scream out, but just couldn't. Falling back, drowning in the pain some blunt object caused her, she hit the cold concrete below her and everything went blurry. She felt tugging and pulling, heard some form of sound. A voice, maybe. She felt something cover her skin, something like cloth. She couldn't move, her whole world felt as if it was torn apart in seconds. Her face was on fire. She could tell, her nose was bleeding. She couldn't see, couldn't hear. She only felt pain and the sudden feeling of being shifted into a seated position against her will. Before she could clear her head to yell out at her unknown assailants, another object with the force of a truck smacked into the side of her head, and before the sparks could start again, the world went completely dark.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _See what I mean? Its an easy read, huh? Like I said, this section is just a teeny little introduction bit. This was my first time writing the story as a whole, so the pacing is admittedly pretty rough and it kinda zooms by in terms of reading speed. Now, if you really wanna get into the meat n' potatoes of what Inksport has to offer, stay tuned for the next section! It's far longer than this little bite of text here, trust me. This just sorta serves as the setup, yknow? Anyways, go ahead and tell me what you think if you feel inclined to do so, and I'll see ya around!_


	2. Chapter 1: In the Pit

_**A/N:** Welcome back, guys, gals, and slimes! Here is the "official" chapter one. Things start out at a pretty rapid pace, admittedly. But it'll pick up and become a much longer read as the story progresses. Hopefully you like it a bit more than the piddly little introduction. Stay tuned for more Inksport, I'll hopefully have about three or four sections up soon, just to start you all off with. I already have about 20 or so pages of full story written in, so there's definitely something to look forward to, if you enjoy it. I just need to pace myself and take time to consider feedback and such. Hopefully I'll work in a good schedule of reading comments, writing, and posting more chapters. Anyways, enough of my rambling to increase the overall word count, here's the next little bit of the story!_

* * *

 _ **S** omething smells disgusting. Everything hurts. My ankle. My head. My face.._

 _I was bleeding, a lot. I can smell it, like rusted metal. My face is raw. Something hit me,_ hard. _Where the hell am I? I'm laying down somewhere, I can't move.._

 _I've been captured. By those gods-forsaken squids. It couldn't be anyone else._

 _I can tell now, I've been bound. My hands are tied behind me. Legs, as well. There's something making it hard to breathe, some kind of bag they must have me tied up in. Whoever the hell has me held captive, they're at least thorough. I can't believe this.. They won't let me get away without a serious fight, though I'm in no condition to fend them off. Whatever they plan to do with me, I'm stuck until they decide to do it._

The Octoling girl closed her eyes, trying to sigh through her nose. The dried blood there made it difficult to breathe, and the bag she was wrapped in didn't make things any better. She laid back for a while, millions of thoughts racing in her mind. She hated thinking so much, it made her head pound. She thought about giving up, maybe trying to sleep off her headache.

 _No use,_ she thought. _The throbbing is so damn bad, I couldn't possibly get any rest. I suppose I might as well try and move. I'm against some sort of wall.. Maybe I can lean against it. It could help me get my bearings._

She started to shuffle around a bit, trying to get herself up. Immediately as she began to move though, she heard something else, far off. Someone else was in the room with her.

She froze, unsure of what to do next. She braced herself, expecting another violent blow to the head at any moment. Instead, she only heard a noise, a loud but hollow knock against what she could only assume is a metal door.

 ** _Thump, thump, thu-thump._**

She listened on, frozen with apprehension as to what might come next. She heard a series of knocks, in a pattern that seemed oddly familiar. Whatever she was hearing, she had heard before. She was taught to pick up these sorts of patterns while she was in basic training and early schooling.

 _Morse,_ she thought to herself. _They're using that old Morse code. Primitive, but at least no one's used it in centuries. It was one of those old Humun military codes, used as a basic form of sending encrypted information. I never thought my fascination with a dead culture would pay off at a time like this.._

She listened intently to the knocking, trying to detect any letters she might recognize. She was surprised that these Inklings knew as much, or perhaps more, than the Octolings did on forgotten culture and what sort of techniques the early Humuns used. She had a rather keen interest on the long-dead race, curious as to how they managed to survive even without the use of ink or the ability to change their molecular structure to escape natural predators. Raised with a military background amongst her many Octoling brothers and sisters, she was well-trained in all sorts of combat techniques and resources to get the upper hand on nearly any opponent. This was helpful, but her extensive knowledge on Humun language and military strategy was all self-taught. She hated herself for letting these infernal squid people take her captive, but she took pride in knowing she cracked their little encryption with ease. If she could at least glean a hint of their plan from their primitive code knocking, she'd accept it as a small personal victory.

She started to pick up on a few loose letters, as the pattern repeated itself. This worked more to her advantage than anything, as it gave her a much longer window of time to decipher the message behind the knuckles rapping against the door.

 _K.. E.. A.._ She took a mental note of each letter, trying as many combinations as possible to uncover some kind of meaning.

 _W.. A.. Keawa? Wakea? Eawak.._

 _Awake._

 _Whoever's one the other side of that door, they're telling one of their friends that I'm alive still. They saw me move. They must want something to do with me, then. I'm important to them somehow, they'll need me alive. Need someone to keep tabs on me. Well, their scheme seems much more complex than adding a dead Octoling to their list of hunting achievements, whatever it may be. Maybe these inky bastards aren't as dumb as I would've thought.._

The knocking stopped, and she heard the slightest traces of movement from beyond the door. Her unseen neighbor shuffled around a bit as well, and she heard footsteps. Now sitting up fully, waiting for whatever came next, she heard a scraping sound. Someone opened the door, and the distinct crunch of shoes on gritty concrete passed her ears again.


	3. Chapter 2: A Slim Chance to Escape

_**A/N:** Howdy, guys, gals, and slimes. Now, allow me to give a little warning. As one might be able to tell simply by reading the first few lines of this section, the language kicks up a bit here. This section introduces the rough and tumble Inkling characters, and as this band of raider-like squids, they're a little rougher around the edges. This section is a lot worse, seeing as the character introduced here is pretty steamed over the events in the beginning. Don't worry, not everyone in my story is a dirty sailor. But, for an unrefined group of Inklings that follow their own rules, expect a little coarseness here and there. Anyways, hope you enjoy it, nonetheless. Onwards, to the story!_

* * *

" **F** ucking hell!" A voice suddenly yelled, startling the Octoling.

"What's your problem, Slim!? I just said to go get her, not beat her half to death and toss her into a fucking bag!"

The voice continued to snap at whomever was sharing the room with her, who was seemingly too scared to even mutter a reply. After a few seconds, the Octoling girl heard the second voice speak up, in some kind of unintelligible code language.

"Eruoy ton gnisu eht terces edoc, ris.." The second voice squeaked.

"To hell with the secret code, Slim! I told you to take care of something for me, and you decided to beat the target senseless! How can I expect anything good to come of this, she's probably not ever gonna be willing to cooperate with me now.."

She listened on to what the first voice was saying. It was a deep voice, rather intimidating when its volume is raised in an argument. There was a sense of urgency behind it when it spoke, like words were falling from its owner's mouth faster than he could filter them out in his mind. The voice seemed young enough, but not nearly as young as most Inklings are when they first pick up a fascination with battling each other for sport, which is about thirteen or fourteen. Something about the way he sighed breathlessly after barking at his subordinate told her that he didn't really like having to yell at all.

She thought about the last little bit the voice said, "She's probably not ever going to be willing to cooperate." _What could that possibly mean?_ She thought to herself. _They_ do _want something from me, don't they? At least one of them does, whoever this deeper voice belongs to. How old is he? Much older than most of the squirts swarming about in the hellhole they call Inkopolis, that's for sure. Compared to most Inklings, he sounds.. What, maybe sixteen? Seventeen? He definitely sounds like someone in charge, though. Seeing as he sent his friends out to retrieve me instead of doing it himself, and all. He has subordinates, which suggests some kind of position of power. Still doesn't explain what they could possibly want with me. He is right, though. I'm in no mood to negotiate after taking a damn beating like that._

After a brief pause and a quick sigh, he spoke again, this time using whatever sort of encrypted language his friend, "Slim," had spoken earlier. She took a mental note, she'd have to ask about, or learn to decipher on her own, this code-speak whenever she got the chance.

"Tel reh og, eitnu reh." The deeper voice muttered.

"Era uoy erus, niatpac?" Slim whispered, the sentence inflected as if asking a question.

"Haey, og daeha." Responded the deeper voice, sighing a bit.

Slim paused, and mumbled almost under his breath. "Mu.. llew, ris, mi adnik deracs. Tahw fi ehs skcatta em?"

The deeper voice gave a much more agitated sigh, and the Octoling heard more urgent footsteps head in her general direction. "Enif, lli od ti flesym. Tub eruoy no niht eci, etavirp. Rebmemer taht."

Somewhat startled at whatever was said, Slim gave a weak and quick reply. "R-Ris, sey.."

She felt shuffling, something moving around near her. Then she felt hands touching the cloth, and a million thoughts raced through her head. _Should I kick? I could scream. I can't do much, they have me tied up too securely. Damn it! I should just.. Wait. I should just wait. If I try to defy them anymore, one of them is going to throw the butt of their rifle at me again. My head hurts enough already.. But, what the hell do they_ want _with me? That's the one detail I can't shake, I can't glean a damn thing about their plans thus far. No codes I can crack, nothing! I don't even know where I am! One of these gods-forsaken squid people had better explain_ something, _or I_ will _break out of these binds, and I_ will _dispatch them. There_ are _no "re-spawn points" out here in the real world.._

As all sorts of evil thoughts swirled around in her mind, hands started to grip at the cloth near her head. She felt more and more rage build up along with her apprehension, wanting nothing more to at least _look_ at her assailants. The top of the bag was untied, and her eyes were flooded with a sudden stinging light, making her recoil in pain as the bag fell away from her. She couldn't really see anything, and it made her squint and hiss at nothing in particular.

"Damn.." she heard the deep voice mutter, unable to see him with her eyes screwed shut to hide from the piercing light. "If it's not one thing, it's two. Her eyes are already sensitive from adjusting to these low light conditions and horrible treatment. Your team managed to do a huge number on her, Slim. I don't like that."

Slim, still shaken up over all of the events taking place at once, simply squeaked out a "Sorry, sir," having abandoned whatever code-speak he was using before.

"And as if that wasn't enough," the other voice continued, "Octoling eyes are light-sensitive, anyways. They were pushed underground for quite a while, yknow. Their bodies changed to match their terra-pod homes. They can't handle a lot of light, at least not without effort and readjustment. It'd be like getting your pupils dilated, and then trying to open em and look at the sun."

Slim could only add a small statement of empathy, "Ouch.."

"Now look at this, your boys managed to break what I can assume is her only pair of light-correction goggles. She's not even gonna be able to see straight. What a damn mess."

Unsure on if the voice was referring to her or her current situation when called a "damn mess," she kept still and listened intently.

"Look, go ahead and tell Bones that I need a replacement lens for these. I want to get em fixed, in case she still needs em in about an hour or so. Doesn't really matter what the material is, as long as it can take a better beating than whatever kind of.." The voice trailed off, and the girl felt hands near her, still unable to see. "Artificial metal alloy this stuff is."

The voice mumbled a few more things, but the girl didn't quite notice. Between the sudden confusion and blindness, as well as any thoughts swirling through her head as to why this Inkling was being considerate, or dare she say, _nice_ to her, compounded by the feeling of these unknown hands near her neck, she was practically trembling. So much was happening in this instance, all at once. Her heart was pounding, and she almost wanted it to stop before the voice's owner noticed it. She heard a quick snapping noise, as the voice's owner had popped something off of her now-broken goggles.

"Take this off to Bones as a sample. Tell him I want something twice as strong to replace it. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Slim spoke quickly, and the girl heard light footsteps trod away.

"And while you're at it, Slim," the voice started.

"Huh?"

"Bring me that emergency medical kit from outside. I'm gonna clean her up."


	4. Chapter 3: Cleanup

" **W** hy are you doing this?" The Octoling asked, her eyes still shut from the light. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it was before, but still enough to keep her eyes lightly closed. She winced every few seconds, as the owner of that deep voice was tending to her cuts and scrapes with some kind of chemical that burned and stung. The dried blood coming from her nose had been wiped off and cleaned away, and she sat almost entirely silent as he worked. She could finally breathe through her nose, but the overpowering scent of the cleaning solution made her wish she couldn't.

"Because, you got beaten pretty badly. You need this." The voice answered, speaking in a soft and almost compassionate tone. Something about it drove her mad. She _hated_ that he was helping her out so much, she couldn't grasp why this Inkling creature was being nice.

"It's your fault." She spat back, almost dripping with resentment.

"Hm.. Not quite, little red." He said simply, still working diligently to clean her wounds.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, getting increasingly more and more defensive as their idle chit-chat went on. "And, _what_ did you just call me?"

"Look, I just wanna clear something up now: I didn't send those boys out just to beat you up. That wasn't part of the plan at all, actually. And they're all gonna face some pretty big consequences for the way they handled you."

"You mean this 'Slim' character, don't you?" The girl prodded. _I suppose I ought to find out as much as I can about this band of idiots,_ she thought to herself. _Anything I can discern about them and where I am will help in escaping._

The deep voice simply sighed, and took a pause before speaking again. 'Slim's one of em, yeah. I don't think he'll be sticking around very long. It's not so much _him,_ as it is his group. He's one member of a squad, there's about five of em. They've been doing almost nothing but screwing things up, left and right. Slim is a nice kid, but no one in that entire group ever contributes much. If the hammer falls on them, Slim's included."

The girl's eyebrows furrowed a bit, and she tilted her head to the side that wasn't currently being prodding at with a dampened cotton pad. "You're going to do _what_ with a hammer?"

The voice's owner chuckled, a smile almost clearly audible behind his words. "It's just an expression, a certain way of saying things. Not meant to be taken too literally."

"An idiom." The Octoling replied quickly.

"Yeah, you got it." He said. "It just means some kind of consequence and discipline is gonna take place eventually. I'm not actually gonna go swingin' a hammer at em. That sorta thing isn't really my forte, yknow?"

The Octoling sighed, unsure of what to say for now. _Nothing useful so far. I might as well wait this out. If I weren't so damn exhausted, I could take him, surely._ _But, still.. As it stands now, there's no chance._ The Inkling pressed more of the strange cleaning solution into a fresher wound, and the girl instantly winced and drew in a sharp breath.

"Whoa," the voice said, removing the cotton pad. "Are you okay, I didn't mean for it to hurt much."

"What are you even using to clean these wounds?" She asked, her eyes screwing even more tightly shut with the pain.

"Just basic sterilization stuff, all we have is a sort of do-it-yourself first-aid kit. I'm only using peroxide to clean up the little scratches, but this one here on your cheek is a lot bigger. Just a few more wipes and it'll be fine. Try to hold out till then, okay? I'm sorry, I know it stings pretty bad."

Something in his compassion set her off. She still couldn't get over how _nice_ he was, it made her sick. She sat there, seething, wishing she could see what was going on. Here she was, injured, blind, and still tied up of all things. Yet here _he_ was, sitting in the floor in front of her, cleaning her wounds and making conversation! Nothing about it made any sense to her, nothing at all. Inklings are _evil!_ They forced her kind underground, changed the way they lived forever. They've been at war with each other for generations upon generations, why would this one single creature want to _help her?_

While another whirl of confusion tore through her thoughts, the Inkling had finished his work, sighing a bit. She heard him put away various bottles and close small containers, and the sound of plastic scratching against concrete told her he had pushed the medical kit way. She sat in silence with a slight frown and scrunched-up brows, toying at her lip. Then, she felt hands on her, and she jumped.

"Whoa, whoa.. Take it easy, I'm not doing anything. I just wanted to bandage up this cut, so no kind of infection spreads. Just, stay still for a bit, and I'll put it on." The voice explained, taking on a lower, breathier tone as it tried to convey a sense of honesty. _Why doesn't he want to hurt me? Why doesn't he want me dead? Why.. why doesn't he just kill me already? What does he_ want _with me!?_

She sat there, her face twisting into a deeper frown as contempt and rage built up within her. It twisted in her gut, like a fire that turned her skin a brighter shade of red than usual. If she were anywhere near water, she'd be steaming. But she sat and waited, while the Inkling's hands slowly pressed themselves against her cheek to apply the bandage. A different, somehow more urgent emotion shot through her haze of anger. Her heart skipped, and she held her breath.

An odd thought pierced her mind, and she dared to try it. _Wait, my eyes. They don't burn anymore, I could try to open them. At least look at him, something. I'm not used to the light levels here yet, but.. It's better than nothing. Besides, I can survey my surroundings, find a way to get out of here._

She took a deep breath, and her eyes took a lot of effort to open. The Inkling froze, staring as she tried to open up and finally look at her surroundings. The thought hadn't really occurred to him that his hand was still pressed against her cheek, but he didn't move it. He simply sat and watched. She took the whole process slowly, her vision blurry and obscured. Everything seemed as if she was trying to look through the water of a pool, washed out and clouded. She felt her eyes well up. Hot, salty tears streaked down her cheeks without her knowing. Seeing the sudden fit of tears, the Inkling clicked open the medical kit with one hand, and grabbed a clean, dry tissue from the box. He waited to hand it to her until she was ready, and watched as her vision focused and she glanced around the room.

She looked at him. She looked at his hand, against her cheek. She blushed. And she bit him.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Yo there, everybody. This might be the last section I upload for now, might not be. I suppose we'll just have to see. Still, hopefully the story has picked up enough to give you something to enjoy. I'd really appreciate any feedback you have for me, it just serves to help me better my writing overall and give greater story content for you guys to read. Seeing as I left this one off on a kind of sudden note, I might go ahead and upload it's little companion section too, for the sake of completion. After that, I may just rest easy and let you guys read and review the material as you'd like while I work on future sections. Like.. "future," meaning probably about eight sections ahead. Or at least if feeeels like I'm eight sections ahead. Alas! It will have to wait, because it's like 12:30am and my daily schedule has me downright exhausted. Hopefully you all have enjoyed the story so far. Goodnight, guys, gals, and slimes. Thanks for reading._

 _(also if I do upload that little companion section, which I might as well go ahead and do, I won't add any notes to the beginning or end. kinda too tired for all that jazz at the moment. please understand.)_


	5. Chapter 4: Breakdown

" **O** w! What the fuck!?" The Inkling yelled, tearing his hand away from her and immediately clutching it closer to him. He looked down at it, and watched as a small, almost serrated gash on his hand opened and started to bleed. Octoling teeth were definitely different from an Inkling's, he learned that pretty quickly. Grabbing the medical kit once more, he uncapped the bottle of the peroxide and simply poured it over the wound while the blood dripped down his palm. Grunting a bit and wincing from the pain, he let a small amount of the chemical snake its way down his skin. He grabbed a bandage and placed one over the cut, and used a bit of gauze to wrap his hand.

"Stay away from me!" the Octoling snapped. "You were too close."

"I was putting a bandage on your cheek, for fuck's sake! I stopped for a damn second, because you were trying to open your eyes. You didn't have to fucking bite me! Damn.. I was just gonna hand you a tissue, your eyes were watering like crazy." The Inkling stopped, and let out a deep breath. "Can you at least see okay now?"

She sighed, and looked down at the ground. "Yes."

"Do you need the tissue?" He said, waving it in the air a bit.

"..Yes."

"Then come here," the Inkling said. "Just, lean in a bit."

She leaned forward, and pouted miserably when he grabbed her cheek again. He was trying to be as gentle as possible, but something about his steady niceness just agitated and confused her. He wiped away the worst of the tears drying on her face, and tilted her head in a few directions to check for anything else to wipe clean. Not seeing anything else, he sighed again, wadding up the tissue and putting it in his pocket to throw away later. He leaned away from her, and closely inspected his newly-injured hand.

The Octoling sat and watched him, finally being able to get a solid look at him. Her headache had gone down a bit, and she sat in silence, looking him over. He had a longer face, with a distinct jawline. His tentacles were long and unkempt, thrown together into a messy half-tail bun. He would occasionally brush one loose appendage behind a pointed ear, while he continued to survey his injury. Two of these tentacles, the ones nearest his ears, ended in shorter, more bulbous tips. She had never seen anything like it before, though she decided to take a mental note to ask about it later, if given the chance. Aside from the long tentacles adorning his head, he also had a short one extending from his chin, signifying his somewhat older age. He had dark blue-grey eyes, almost hidden behind the strange mask-like layer of skin near the eyes of all Inklings. Aside from a few glaring details that obviously told the girl his species, he looked pretty average. Something told her that a lot of thoughts burned in his head, and that he had a heavy burden on his shoulders. He clearly was some kind of leader, he had the troubles of one. She sat and surveyed him a bit more, before her thoughts were pierced by a small chuckle from the squid.

"Any reason you're staring like that, red?" He asked, not looking away from his hand as he readjusted the gauze for what must be the fourth time.

 _How did he possibly see me?_ She thought. _He never looked away from his hand, not even once. He's.. Incredibly observant. I couldn't even tell he had seen me. He must have lightning-fast reflexes. Is he a sniper? Surely someone with such a degree of focus could command a weapon like that. There's almost no other explanation, he's a sharpshooter. I can see it now, he must be. He'd have to be fast, or have some sort of gimmick to evade an enemy. Either staying long-range with a scoped weapon, or moving in close with some sort of rapid-fire setup._ The octo-girl concentrated hard on her thoughts, thinking of a way he could possibly conduct himself in the heat of a battle. Something about it just didn't add up, there had to be some ace up his sleeve. She just couldn't figure it out, and it irritated her. _A lot of things about this stupid squid irritate me. How nice he is, how gently he acts, nothing makes any sense. And now there's this? I have no idea how he fights. He could do anything with his reflexes, he's probably looking me over as much as I am him. Building some sort of plan, should I risk an escape. And what should I expect, a burst of ink from miles away, or an entire canister emptied on my back at close range? Or something I haven't even thought to consider yet. It's all so confusing! Just who_ is _this guy!?_

"Good talk," the squid said, breaking her free of her reverie again.

"What did you just say?" the Octoling shot back, her face forming a scowl that was becoming a bit of a trademark of hers.

The Inkling smirked a bit, and spoke in a dismissive tone, waving his hand in the air as if to shoo off his current train of thought. "Nothin, don't worry about it. I was just pointing out that I asked a question, and didn't really get an answer."

"You didn't answer me either," she said.

"Really? When?"

"When I asked you what you called me."

"Oh," he began, grinning again. Whereas her face was usually twisted into a frown, his seemed to always form a familiar, somewhat cocky smirk. "Just called you 'little red.' Hope you don't mind it too much."

"Why would you call me that?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and furrowing her brow even more.

"Well, because you're.. Yknow, red." He said, with a small laugh. "And little. So there ya go, 'little red.'"

"I'm not little." she hissed at the squid, a thin layer of blush covering her face.

The squid smirked even harder, showing off some of his sharpened teeth. "Cute," he said in a somewhat condescending tone of voice. "You get defensive real fast."

"What the fuck is your problem!?" she barked at him suddenly. The squid boy glared at her in shock, his eyes widened and his smirk gone. Tears started to form at the edges of her eyes and she hung her head. "How the hell are you just so _nice?_ None of it makes any sense.. Inklings are evil, they're _evil! All of you, you're evil!_ You pushed us underground, tried to kill us all off.. Why are _you_ the nice one, why!?"

The Inkling stared with his mouth open, wondering what could have been going through her head. She sat there, hands and feet still bound, tears in her eyes, questioning all she knew and understood.

"Every day.. I spent training, pushing myself, honing my body into a weapon just to kill _you._ They forced me to train, and train, and train, and.. For what? To be some militant robot? Born to kill creatures that don't _really_ want to fight at _all?_ You make no damn sense, stupid squid.. None of this makes _any_ sense. Am I just supposed to believe that all my hard work, pushing myself to be better than my brothers and sisters, it was all for nothing? This is my way of life! This is what we _are!_ The Octarian race has been bred, and trained, and forced into these gods-forsaken tiers on a pyramid.. All for one reason, to end all of _your_ lives, and you're being _nice!?_ Why are you like this, why don't you hate me!? Why!?"

The octo-girl sat and cried, harder than she likely ever had before. Her face was down, and hot, salty tears streamed from her eyes and hit the rough pavement below her with almost audible splashes. The boy sat and watched her, a strange sense of guilt twisting in his gut. He looked her over one more time, and stood up. He walked over to her, kneeling down and wrapping her up in his arms. The Octoling stopped for a moment, only to cry harder into his shoulder, shaking and breathing unsteadily. He sighed, gently rubbing a hand over her back a few times, and it was all the poor girl could do to not sob even more fiercely into him. She simply laid into his arms, occasionally choking on the word "why," repeating it to herself over and over. He held her tighter, resting his chin in the crook of her neck and closing his eyes.

"We're not all like that, red." He whispered, trying to find the right words to use. "We're not all bad, just a few. We've done some messed up things before. But you can't hold our entire race responsible for the actions of a few bad squids. I don't hate you. I sent my men out to come _find_ you, after all. People aren't always one way, there's not much black and white. Everyone's got different ideas, different thoughts. Some are raised well, and lead good lives. Some aren't, and spend their time trying to hurt other people. Some harsh, some compassionate. We're never just a carbon copy. We're all grey, yknow?"

The octo-girl laid in his arms, sobbing. She started to tremble as the tears flowed from her eyes, and her breaths rocked her small frame. And the squid simply tried to comfort her, holding her close and gently rocking back and forth. More tears poured from the terrified and confused girl, who had grabbed the edges of the Inkling's shirt with her still-bound hands. She clenched what she could grab of the cloth tightly in each hand. Clawing at it, trying to find some purchase in the material. There was a heavy silence in the room, being filled only by the muffled sobs of the Octoling girl.

After a time, her tears had ebbed away just enough to allow her to breathe normally, and she took a long, emotionally-spent sigh. She tried to breathe back in, only having it stopped by her now blocked up nose. She looked up at the squid, who had opened his eyes again and looked back at her.

"You're not all grey," she said. "Your tentacles are brown."

A huge grin spread across his face, which the girl weakly tried to copy. "Just an expression, red."

"I know. I wanted to break the tension a bit."

"What, are you warming up to me already? All I did was clean up a few scratches and hold while you cried." He said, his lips forming his familiar smirk.

The girl laid there, with her head resting on the squid's shoulders. Through her emotional reverie, a single cold thought forced its way into her head. Her more gentle expression faded as reality crept back into her mind. She was a hostage. Her captor simply did what he could to keep her alive until she was needed, nothing more. She couldn't bring herself to move away from the Inkling, but her face twisted into a scowl and her voice lowered threateningly. "My mouth is close to your neck, squid. Don't take advantage of a moment of weakness. I'd hate to leave your men with more to clean up than what that little kit of yours can handle."

The Inkling sighed deeply, and let go of the octo-girl. Backing away, he got up and brushed some of the dirt off his worn pants. He looked her over one more time, before picking up the medical kit and moving to the other side of the room, setting it down onto a chair where the girl assumed Slim had been sitting earlier. Walking back over, he stood in front of her and gave another short sigh.

"Well, I'm gonna go ahead and take the ropes off your legs, at least. I don't plan on keeping you down here. But, I do need to find a substitute, make sure you don't go running off on me. I need you, after all."

The Inkling walked off, and opened the door to the room. Reaching out from beyond the girl's line of sight, he retrieved what the Octoling could only describe as leg shackles from behind the large iron door, and started walking back over to her. They were essentially handcuffs for her ankles, with a long chain between them to allow her to walk while staying restrained. If she made any attempt to run, he could easily just trip her, which would only cause her to face-plant and eat the concrete with her arms still bound with the rope from before. She found it genuinely useless to fight anyone head on at this point, and elected to simply bide her time instead. If anything, she was the most curious about whatever they could've wanted with her, whatever their "plan" was. It was made especially clear that she _was_ needed, but she still couldn't find out what for.

The squid knelt down, clicking the cuffs into place over her ankles. "That too tight?" he asked. When she shook her head, He clicked the other into place, and took out a small pocketknife. _Smart move, at least,_ she thought. _Making sure I can't run of with one cuff on. If anything, I could just use the other as a makeshift weapon. So, he at least has the capability to see it coming, take a few steps to avoid my escape. I suppose he's got a little more brainpower than I expected. Then again.. There's a lot more to him than he lets on. He's strange, to say the least._ The Inkling knelt down, and began to work at the ropes binding her. Once they had been cut and moved away, he got up and leant her a hand off the floor.

"Come on," he said, "Get up. We're headed upstairs."


	6. Chapter 5: Ink and Bones

**_A/N:_** _Heya, guys, gals, and slimes! Time for another section of the story. Here, I actually wrote up one big section, but I'm deciding to split it up into two. This'll allow me to work ahead on future sections, and ultimately give you guys more to read. This section furthers the plot a little bit more, and introduces a side character I think you'll enjoy if you're a fan of a certain indie game that recently had a birthday. If you're familiar with short, pun-slinging characters, I think you'll enjoy who gets introduced here. He won't be suuuper important to the overall narrative, but hopefully he'll get chances to shine on his own as support and a little comic relief. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy, and sorry if some of it sounds a little weird. The next chapter will be a bit shorter, seeing as I split one section into two. Oh well, enough stallin'. Go ahead and give it a read!_

* * *

 **T** he Octoling had been led away from the room, up a flight of stairs, and into a much larger area. She surveyed every bit of her surroundings, trying to take in as many details as possible while they moved through the halls and doorways. It was hard to analyze much, as the Inkling walked behind her, instructing her on which halls to turn down and which rooms to pass through. Her general sense of confusion about her situation had cleared up some, but she still couldn't shake the thought in the back of her head. _What does he want with me?_

She dared a question to her captor, tilting her head back in his direction as she walked. "Where are you taking me?"

"Well, it's late. I'm gonna go see Bones about your goggles, see what he can do to fix em. Then I guess I'm gonna head out to the mess hall for a quick bite, and I'll go to bed."

"And what of me?" the octo-girl asked, as the Inkling tapped her left shoulder to indicate she needed to take a turn in that direction.

"Well, seeing as I can't quite trust you with any of the other boys, I guess you're stickin' with me." The Inkling said with a shrug, walking with his hands in his pockets.

The octo-girl stopped dead in her tracks, almost tripping up the Inkling trailing behind her. She hung her head as some kind of emotion built up in her. Something like rage or embarrassment, she couldn't tell. All too many implications flashed through her mind at once, and she turned around to look dead at the squid.

"I'm _what?_ "

"Relax, red." He replied quickly, waving his hand at the air in a dismissive manner. "I'll have someone set a bed up for you, we're not gonna have to sleep together. Wouldn't want that, anyways."

She sat in place, practically steaming in anger. "Neither do I," she almost snapped. Her face was a lot redder than usual, and she turned around and started walking again to avoid the squid taking notice. He saw her bolt off down a long hallway, and he broke into a light jog to catch up with her.

Getting back into a steady pace, he tapped her shoulder again, wordlessly telling her to turn right. She did so, and was led to face a small black door, with a single image of a bone spray-painted on its surface. The paint had dripped in places as it dried, giving the artwork a more thrown-together and rebellious appearance. The door itself was fashioned from various sheets of metal, bolted together and cut down into the shape of the doorframe. Most of the metal had been sprayed black in a similar messy fashion as the emblem on the door, but a few off pieces here and there were their original shades of silver and one an odd gold color. Amidst the otherwise decorative chaos, there was a simple slot in the door's center, used to identify anyone that could knock without having to open it. Behind the entrance, the girl could hear various things crashing about, with the occasional bang of what she assumed to be a hammer on metal, and occasionally even the grinding screech of a buzz-saw was clearly audible from beyond the room's entrance. She needed no formal introduction, she knew exactly who this particular room belonged to. It could have been none other than the squid simply known as "Bones."

The octo-girl's captor casually shambled up to the door, rapping on its surface a few times. The sounds of hammers stopped for a moment, and shuffling feet could be heard moving towards the door. The slot on the door opened, and two goggled eyes stared out from the opening. She could see the cheeks of the strange tinkerer raise up in a smile, and he seemed to be eyeing the girl's Inkling companion with eagerness and intensity, like a dog waiting for its owner to drop a piece of meat onto the floor.

"Heya, Bonesy." the tall Inkling muttered casually.

"Howdy," replied the short squid, his voice surprisingly deep and tonal. "Heh, what can I do ya for?"

The taller of the two leaned against the door a bit, propping his arm against the sturdy metal entrance. "Not too much, I'd wager. Just need to see if you've done anything with that sample yet."

"Please, you're underestimatin' me. Of course I whipped somethin' up, had it sitting in here for a while now."

"Well, lemme see it. Whatcha got for me?" the tall Inkling asked his shorter friend, and immediately after the question was posed, the small squid had hopped off and went to retrieve his latest piece of handiwork.

Upon his return, the more space-efficient cephalopod stuck his hands through the slot in an expectant gesture. "Alright, hand me the goggles. Heh, what's left of em, anyhow."

The octo-girl's captor followed his friend's simple instruction, and handed over what was left of her broken light-correction goggles. Taking them in his hand and ducking back behind the door, Bones closed the slot and the sound of a blowtorch could immediately be heard. A sudden bolt of anxiety struck the Octoling, and she stepped forward to grab the attention of the squid.

"What's he doing to those?" she suddenly asked, an urgent tone lacing her voice.

"Fixin' em." He said, a small smirk crossing his lips as usual. "Relax, red. I trust him, so you should too. Granted, you don't trust a damn one of us yet, but Bones is our expert inventor. He's thrown together all of our signature weapons, and has tons of useful tech around. He's not gonna damage the goggles. If anything, he'll give em back better than they were when he first got his hands on em."

"That's the Bones Guarantee!" the small squid chimed in, having finished whatever work he was doing on the girl's eyewear. "Here ya go, chief."

Bones handed the goggles back to the taller squid, and he looked them over. The octo-girl examined them from a distance as well, noticing several minor differences. They had been entirely repaired, and the missing piece that her captor had taken as a "sample" was replaced with a single gear-like ring of some strange gold metal. She glanced over at the door, and realized a long hammered sheet of the metal was bolted in place on its surface, likely the same material. The lenses of the goggles has also been replaced with larger ones, lending her what he assumed would be enhanced visibility. The larger purple lenses now caught the light in an interesting manner, reminding her somewhat of certain primitive Humun technology, first developed for use in things like digital clock displays and light-sensitive solar battery panels. She wasn't sure if this was the very same material, but the way the murky purple color of the glass reflected light and turned blue in places was certainly enough to jog her memory.

"Guess it doesn't look like much from a glance, does it?" Bones asked, grinning through the slot in his door. "With the naked eye, it looks like all I did was replace that broken bit with a stronger metal and swap out those cracked lenses."

"But I know you, Bonesy." The taller Inkling chimed in with a smirk. "What'd you _really_ do to em?"

"Heh, well," the stout squid began, "A few things. Word spreads pretty fast, so I know you don't plan on letting the cutie off her leash anytime soon. Whenever you decide to be a little gracious and let her try em on, she'll find out that I've added a few new features along with those snazzy lenses. That gold replacement ring is made from a pretty intense alloy I've whipped up recently, the stuff is tested to give tempered steel a run for its money. The lenses used to really only correct basic light levels, too. So I went ahead and fixed that up, giving her way more options for visibility. All she has to do is turn the ring to the right or left. Heh, easy as switching jets on a showerhead. Now these babies can run night vision, thermal, and even a developmental x-ray mode. It's been in beta for awhile, but I've recently gotten it up to a comfy enough test phase to try out in some real tech. The environment shows up in blue, and your targets show up in white. Heh, bones and all." He said with a grin, jutting a thumb out towards himself as he ended his speech.

The Octoling stood in stunned silence as she looked back to the eyewear in the Inkling's hands. _How on earth did he do all that?_ She thought to herself. _It really does look like he only replaced the few broken pieces, but he somehow managed to implement completely new technology into them? Night vision, thermal sight? Even this x-ray feature, they've all been included.. Yet there's not a new wire or switch in sight. How is that possible? He's a damn genius.._

"Well, I'll hold onto these, red." The Inkling said after a bit, turning back to face her. "You'll definitely need them later, but I guess I can just put em up somewhere in my quarters for the night. I'd ask if you mind, but I suppose you don't exactly have a choice."

"Clearly not," she said with her familiar scowl. "It doesn't matter. Let's just get going, please."

"Alright, yeah. Come on, we're headed to get something to eat real quick. That means you, too. You need food. Hopefully he saved me something, the leaders around here can usually break the rules."

"He?" she asked, tilting her head a bit. "Who's he?"

Her captor stopped for a quick beat, and waved his hand at the air again. "Ah, don't worry about it. You'll meet him in a bit, I suppose. Come on, we're going."

The octo-girl sighed and hung her head for a quick moment, trudging along in front of the squid. He led her down a few hallways here and there, going through huge dome-like areas and a few narrow rooms. They came to one more large room, the base's cafeteria. Her captor casually threw open the door, giving her a small push to direct her inside.

"Watch it," the octo-girl snapped, whirling her head around to face the squid.

"I have been watchin'." He quickly retorted with his signature sly grin.

With a quick sigh, she hurried inside, followed shortly after by her squid companion. She could almost feel his eyes watching her now, and she instinctively felt as if they were trained to follow her backside as she walked. _It's just in my head,_ she thought. _He's joking. He has to be._


	7. Chapter 5-2: Mama Jay

_**A/N:** Sorry for my absence, guys, gals, and slimes. School work has taken a lot out of me, but I'm still working on more Inksport content in my free time. I'm also working a few chapters ahead of what I publish, so I'm way more ahead than just this little section. I figure I should at least release this little bit, to finish up that two-parter chapter I mentioned. After this, I'm gonna finish up the section I'm working on now, and publish the chapter following this one. You'll finally get formal introductions for both the Octoling and main Inkling, as well as read a few more details about the overall plot and what sets it all into motion. Again, sorry for my absence, but I'm hopefully starting to get back on track with a normal publishing schedule. I'm working on it in real time, so hopefully you'll all be a bit patient as I write more content for you guys to read. Anyways, I know this blurb here is a bit short, but the following section is a bit longer. A little bit is better than none at al, right? Heh, hope you enjoy it, nonetheless!_

* * *

 **T** he Octoling took a look around the fairly huge room, taking in as many little details as possible. Dozens of tables sat in rows throughout the space, though they seemed surprisingly empty. Only a handful of Inklings, all sitting in their own seats or with small groups of two or three friends, dotted the room. There was a long, silver counter against the back wall, with the few lights hanging above it either dimmed or turned off. Several slots for flat silver pans of food sat empty, indicating this is where everyone went to get the evening's meal. The few squids in the room had empty plastic trays sitting in front of them, or were sitting near a friend that was finishing their food. Clearly the cafeteria was about to close, but her captor apparently elected to skip dinner in order to talk with her and clean her wounds. Something about knowing the squid following her opted not to eat in order to watch over her sent something similar to a pang of guilt through her chest, but she quickly buried it with whatever nasty thoughts she could conjure up. Regardless of whatever she was feeling about the Inkling being nice, or skipping his meals, or being otherwise hospitable, she was still a prisoner of war. The thought sitting in the back of her mind caused her face to form the scowl she was all too used to wearing, and she slowly trudged forward to allow the squid to direct her to their destination.

"We're just headed up to the counter," the Inkling said. "Hopefully they saved something for me. I might essentially run the place, but that doesn't really mean special treatment." With a short laugh, he started waking over to the long silver space.

Looking ahead a bit, she saw a single Inkling, leaning into the counter. He had a bandana wrapped around his face, to cover his mouth. She couldn't make out much, other than that he was tall and thin, and looked a bit jumpy by simply sitting out in the open area. He occasionally glanced around the room, seeming to scan the tables for something or someone. When his eyes settled on her and her Inkling companion, he almost gave a visible sigh of relief from across the room. He didn't glance around as much, but still avoided making eye contact for too long while her and her captor approached. They made their way towards the counter, and when they were only a few steps away, the tall Inkling addressed his more nervous friend.

"Hey, man." He said plainly, casually reaching his hand out for a complicated shake of fist bumps and slaps. "You manage to scrounge something up for me?"

His squid friend sighed a bit to prepare himself to speak, and glanced around a bit before speaking his reply. "Yeah. Jamie worked the stoves today, we've got like, pretzel buns with some kinda rice and gravy on em. Fuckin' tasty, man. Might wanna go swing by the back room, she should have one all wrapped up for ya."

"Damn, that does sound good. But, what about the, uh.. _Gnilotco dniheb em_?" the Inkling asked his friend, the last half of his sentence slipping back into their unintelligible code language.

"Ah, I dunno, man. I suppose maybe Jamie's got some leftovers, too. Better just go ahead and ask."

Following his friend's advice, the Inkling stepped forward, stopping for only a quick second to motion towards the octo-girl with his head. "C'mon, red. Follow me, we'll get you some food."

With that, she followed behind her captor, the long chain binding her ankles clinking slightly as she hurried behind him. She may hate the circumstances, but she would have to set aside her resentment for the squid for a moment. She was damn hungry. She followed the Inkling as he pushed open a swinging door to the room behind the long silver counter, and took an immediate left turn to the kitchen area, where the scents of recently-cooked meals were still hanging tantalizingly in the air. Along with the complete assault on her senses, teasing her with the ghosts of hot food, the Octoling also heard something else—humming. Someone, an older Inkling girl with a delicate voice, was humming a tune to herself just around the corner. She turned said corner to see a plump Inkling, easily near her adulthood, busying herself with things in the kitchen. She was well-built, with healthy curves near her thighs and belly, and a practically massive bust. Despite the pleasant amount of weight she had to carry, she still happily skipped and twirled throughout the kitchen, clearing plastic trays away and wiping down the countertops with a damp cloth.

"Hey, Mama Jay," the octoling's captor said with a warm smile. "I heard dinner was great, I'm sorry I had to miss it."

"Ah, don't worry about it, love. I managed to save a pretzel bun just for you. But first.." she started to say, a grin forming on the edges of her lips. "Where's my hug?"

She earned another smile from the squid, and he stepped forward, letting the other Inkling wrap him up in her arms and squeeze the living daylights out of him. They both laughed to themselves and spun around a bit as they embraced. She somehow managed to even lift the tall squid up off the ground, which really only caused him to laugh harder and submit to his friend's affection.

"Okay, okay! Stop!" he tried to say, laughing between nearly every word.

"I can't help it, babe. You know I start missing you whenever you go off somewhere and don't check in. How long's it been since you were actually back here in my kitchen, huh?"

He gave a short chuckle, shuffling his feet a bit and glancing at the ground before giving a reply. "Long enough for you to try and squeeze me to death, apparently.."

"Well, you need to get yourself back in here more often, hon," the motherly squid stated, "But, hey. What'd I tell you about callin' me 'mama,' huh?"

"Ah, sorry," he began, "I guess Jamie works just as well. You still really want me to call you that?"

"Of course, babe." She said, still holding him close and pushing a stray tentacle back behind his ear. "Besides, you can't treat me like a mom. Moms are lame, I'm a little too fresh for that. Most of the boys only call me mom because they know that can't get with me." As she spoke, she placed a hand on her hip, and looked over the Inkling with prying eyes. "You've still got a strong chance, though."

The Octoling sat and stared at the girl with her arms around the squid, eyeing him up and down and speaking honeyed words into his ear. Something about it irritated and embarrassed her, and before she knew what she was doing, she had cleared her throat and gotten the attention of the busty squid-girl. She looked at the Octoling in shock, then let her arms drop away from her squid eye-candy.

"So, who's the new cutie?" she asked the other Inkling, who looked back over at the octo-girl and sighed slightly.

"An Octoling I had the boys go fetch for me, I need her for our little arrangement. You know, the event coming up, we need a little more of a punch to pack against the other crews out there. If you wanna split hairs, she's a hostage, but I've definitely been giving her more of a VIP treatment."

"Sounds like she _is_ a VIP, babe." Jamie began, walking over to the Octoling. She eyed her over, until her head snapped back to the other Inkling. "Have you fed her yet? She hasn't eaten anything, has she?"

"Well, no.."

"That's it, get outta here. Go, take the pretzel bun, and give her the one I was saving for later. I'm not taking no for an answer, I'll just take some leftovers to my quarters for the night. Here," she said, closing the small parcel of food into his hands and spinning him around. She stacked the other wrapped bun into his arms, and gave him a push out the swinging door.

"Get that girl some food, and get to bed, okay? That's an order!"


End file.
